sheac12's 90 Gallon

[sheac12]

My tank has been running now for just about 9 months now and it is doing pretty well. I knew going in that the fish I wanted were going to require me to get a larger tank. So on 7/11/08 I purchased discretekarma's tank, originally own by Jamesbuf, a 180, but that is for a different thread...

 

Any way I thought I would give the build story on my 90. In June of last year I received a 29 gallon free from a friend who was moving to Arizona. I started researching, thanks to Reef Central and here, and found I needed something bigger, so I purchased a 75 non-RR from craigslist two weeks later. In August I moved to Columbia, MD and did some more info research and realized I really needed a RR tank, I was threaten with bodily harm if the external overflow ever failed and spilled over. So, I went to aquarium one in Rockville and purchased a 90RR, not the smartest thing I have ever done, but at least I learned to look for someone down sizing or getting out of the hobby.

 

I started out knowing that I needed a decent skimmer. I purchased a used Octopus 150 off of cmas-md. I then went a head and got a Mag 7 for a return, and a 20L for a sump. I did not have any power heads at the time and that was a major mistake. My first round of live rock purchase came from tgallo and I also picked up his seven stage RO/DI unit as well, as he was moving out of state. I setup my tank and let it run for about 3 weeks. I setup the sump into three different sections, drain/skimmer, return, and refugium.

 

 

I went ahead and started designing a stand for the tank. I knew I wanted something taller so that it came to eye leave. I really liked the http://www.petsr4u.com/proddetail.asp?prod=56202 but there was no way my wife was going to let me purchase it. Thus, I ended up designing and building my own stand. Originally I was going to design it with all recessed panels as in the same form as the link above. However, due to construction setbacks and over spending I ended up with this:

 

 

As you can see I replaced the door panel idea with glass and then used a frosting spray to "frost" the glass and cut down on the refugium lighting. The lighting is provided by utility light and a screw in compact fluorescent bulb(6700K) by sylvania I picked up from lowes.

 

I have gone through two different refugium designs. The first was based on a design from melevsreef : http://www.melevsreef.com/55g/55g_sump.html, the one on this page where the water flows into a pipe and under the refugium and into the return section. However, this didn

Edited July 13, 2008 by sheac12

[jamesbuf]

Tagging along to see the next life of that setup..........

[sheac12]

Tuesday I went out and purchased a used ICECAP 660 ballast for my 2 T5s. Currently, I have a Vossloh Schwabe for a ballast and I want to increase the number of bulbs and thought this was a good way to start. I must say after replacing just the ballast I can actually see the difference in the light level. I always knew that these are the best of the best of ballasts, but I never believed they made that much of a difference. Was I wrong!

 

When I got the 660 the gentleman threw in two sets of VHO end caps. Is it possible to mix VHO's and T5s? Is the light output for a VHO all that much better?

Edited July 18, 2008 by sheac12

[sheac12]

Few updates:

 

Picked up a used ATO system and a Current USA T5 setup(4x54) over the past two weeks.

 

I have always been unimpressed with the performance of my skimmer, an Octupus 150. I had hoped that performing the mods listed on ReefCentral would help improve the amount of skimmate it produced. While they seem to make it "better" it wasn't until I hooked up the ATO that it really started working. Since using the ATO the skimmer has been working over time! More crap has been removed then ever. Thank god for ATO systems.

 

Wednesday night I ran out to Hagerstown and picked up a used Current USA T5(4x54). Its great, four bulbs, four moon lights, independent control. I am now running six T5s over my 90, 3 Actinic bulbs and 3 10000 bulbs. The tank looks great and I think the fish like it better too.

[sheac12]

Well it has been a while since I updated this thread, so here is the current status and look.

 

I replaced the Current USA T5 setup with 3 36" T5s and 1 36" VHO all driven off of an ICECAP 660. The addition of the VHO really seemed to make the few, very few, corals I have color's "pop". I decided to go with the 36" VHO and T5s as I plan to use them directly on the 180 in June.

 

Next I replaced one of my maxijet 1200 with sureflow mods to a koralia 4 with a sureflow medium flow prop. and magnet. I really like the magnetic mounting of the Koralia 4 and I think if I can get the high flow prop. to work from the sureflow mod it will be replacing my other maxijet 1200.

 

On Monday(12/29/08) my main pump's circuit popped and unfortunately I didnt notice until the temperature dropped into the low 60s. Unfortunately I lost my favorite fish, my Juv. Emperor Angelfish, due to the temperature drop, the next day. He was in the middle of his color transformation and you can see from below his yellow really starting to show up in the body.

 

After his lost, I decided to redo my aqua-scape into something new. I did this for my own liking and to screw with my Humu Humu trigger. He really doesnt like it when I stick my arms in the tank. He ends up bitting me, but I think that is because I hand feed him and he thinks I am feeding him.

 

The one thing I am still struggling with is algae build up against the back glass. This slowly get worse as the days progress from the water change on Sunday. I am thinking though this could be directly related to my sand bed getting disturbed every time the maxijet's suction cups give out and the bed gets blown all over.

 

I also think my refugium is too small for the tank(currently 5 gallons), so I decided I am going to make it bigger. The easiest way for me is to move the return pump and remove the glass divider that was between the pump and fuge in the sump. Doing this will double my fuge's area and I will be adding sand to keep a good 4-5" sand bed.

 

Thats all for now.

 

Well I would love to add photos but for some reason I keep getting "sorry dynamic pages in tags are not allowed" well how can I link to photobucket?

Edited January 1, 2009 by sheac12